INEOS Set to Enter a Crucial First Summer at Manchester United

Manchester United finds itself in an all too familiar position. Calamity feels more comforting, more familiar, in recent years than anything that sounds like consistency or structure. It has become the norm, and it now officially embodies the Glazers’ incompetent reign as longstanding majority owners of the club as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co look poised to attack the mission impossible with their 25% stake. 

But, at the very least, it is a stake that carries with it the football decision-making responsibility (Translation: Joel and Avram ridding their position of the little snippet that requires interest and care for the actual sport and officially being able to focus their attention exclusively on Manchester United, the business. Though the last decade suggests they sacked off caring about the on-field product long ago).

So yes, as a consolation, if one can get over the sickness that comes with knowing that INEOS have pumped more of their own money into the club in a matter of months than the Glazer family have in 2 decades, at least they will feel better knowing that moving forward there will be expert, best-in-class, football people running the football operations at one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Something that has been too much to ask in recent times. How crazy is that to say?

Glazers aside, the takeaway here is that in an all too familiar position for Manchester United - the state of the financials, the payroll, the actual ability of the first team squad, and of course, the never-ending managerial discussions - there is finally a different, new, objectively better-at-their-job group of decision makers at the helm of it all. And they enter a summer that will take the crown as the most important summer transfer window this club has entered since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. Decision-making responsibilities, you say? Well, here are just a few decisions that need making:

- Mason Greenwood’s loan is coming to an end. Does he return to the club? To the first team squad? Are you, INEOS, going to create that PR disaster for yourself right off the bat?

- Jadon Sancho hasn’t apologised to the current boss for stepping out of line over half a year ago. His loan is up, too. Are you going to continue to promote player power and welcome him back with open arms regardless of who the manager is by the autumn?

- By the way, who is that manager going to be? Is he bald and Dutch?

- Raphael Varane and Casemiro are two top-quality players who are each at least 30 years old with injury concerns. Are you going to overlook their ability and slice down the wage bill by shipping them both off to Saudi Arabia? What will that say to the rest of the squad when it leaves Marcus Rashford - nobody’s pick for player of the season - as far and away the highest earner at the club next season? Do you create another PR storm for yourself by pushing him out the door as well?

- Old Trafford is one of the most iconic stadiums in the world. It’s getting rather old. Are you going to try and do the best makeover you can, or enter another difficult PR storm and build a new stadium?

Those are the first few that come to mind. In fairness, one can only applaud Ratcliffe and his people. They expressed interest from the very same day the Glazers supposedly opened their desire to sell the club - with the goal of purchasing Manchester United in its entirety. Over a calendar year later, on Christmas Eve, they scratched and clawed their way to acquiring the mere quarter of the Mancunian club that they now possess. They are already handicapped; already fighting the virus that first infiltrated the club in 2005. Yet, there appear to be no excuses out of the INEOS camp. They appear to have gotten straight to work. If chasing Manchester City is the goal, poaching their CEO feels like a good start.

However, when the season ends and the summer begins, that’s where we’ll truly get a feel for what INEOS are all about. We can’t see the same old United. There needs to be tangible evidence of a new direction. If you were to ask a lot of fans like myself, that starts with the firm and intentional backing of Erik ten Hag. If a player doesn’t like that, they get sold. 

It starts with: if you want to sign for Manchester United for the wage, you won’t be bought. 

It starts with if you’re liked by the fans but you’re not good enough, you get sold. 

This is the type of ruthless yet sensible action that the club has failed to take in recent years that Sir Jim needs to set as the new precedent. Although labels of the likes of calamity and inconsistency are currently accurate ones, the braindead mistakes of the Glazers are equally simple to resolve. Theoretically, the right people are now in place to flip the page and start afresh.

But - I will cover this soon in-depth and with a strong opinion - if INEOS decides to put a new manager in place this summer and move on from Erik ten Hag, there is zero room for error. It better work at the first attempt. Sacking a manager before his third summer is exactly what we would expect from the Glazers. So, perhaps as I suggested after the Sancho fallout back in September, what ends up happening there may be symbolic well beyond that situation alone. 

While that decision won’t lead people to write them off right then and there, it will leave them with even more to get right at the first time of asking. And if the replacement is Gareth Southgate, one only begins to worry even more.

All that being said, even if they do stick with Ten Hag and back him properly, there is still a lot of weight on the shoulders of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his people. There are lots of high-pressure decisions to get right and lots to do to get Manchester United back to the top.

It is not a job to be envious of.